William s



(No Model.)

. W. S. BLAGK.

SHAFT COUPLING.

No. 245,696. Patented Aug. 16,1881.

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ZZ/QJ/zZQi UNITED STATES PATENT 01mins.

I/VILLIAM S. BLACK, OF WOODBERRY, MARYLAND.

SHAFT-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,696, dated August 16, 1881. A pplication filed December 20, 1880. (NomodeL) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM SUM'rER BLACK, of Woodberry, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented an Improved Shaft-Coupling, of which the following is a specification; and I do hereby declare that in the same is contained a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to certain improvements in a coupling for which Letters Patent ot' the United States No. 221,128 were granted to John alker on the 28th day of October, 1879. In the said patented coupling two independently-operating open-ring clamps are surrounded by an outer cylindrical shell, to which one end of each clampis attached. The other end of each of said clamps is free or separated from the shell, and in the clam ping open ation is drawn toward the fixed end by means ofa bolt, which passes through the outer shell and the said fixed end, and is screwed into the said free end. In the said patented coupling the entire strain is sustained by the thread of the bolts and that in the coupling.

The object of my invention is to preserve the.

valuable clamping properties of the open-ring clamps of the patented coupling, and at the same timesubstitnte for the bolts shown in the said patent wedge-screws or wedges adapted to close the clamps as effectively as the bolts, butwhich are subjected to a different strain viz., a crushing one. 7

In the further description of my said invention which follows reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which Figure I is a longitudinal section of the improved coupling, taken on the dotted line my, Fig. II. Fig. II is an exterior end view of the coupling. Fig. ,III is an exterior view of a part of the coupling, illustrating a modified construction thereof.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts in all the views.

In the said drawings, Ais a cylindrical shell, from the inner surface of which project the open-ring clamps B B. The said clamps are separated longitudinally of the coupling by a space, a. The free end I) of each clamp is grooved and threaded longitudinally of the coupling, and a wedge-screw, O, inserted between it and a correspondingly grooved and threaded projection, c, on the inner surface of the shell A, as shown in Figs. I and II of the drawings.

In forcing in the wedge-screws the free ends of the clamps are made to approach the fixed ones, and the said clamps are thereby reduced in circumference. Asimilar resultis produced by having the opposing surfaces of the free end of the clamp and the projection plain and inserting between them an ordinary wedgekev, as shown in Fig. III.

It will be seen by reference to the drawings that the position of the opposing surfaces of the free end of the clamp and the projection with reference to the radial dotted line a z is such that the movement of the said free end, by means of either the wedge-screw or wedge-key, is nearly in a circumferential line or direction, as indicated by the arrow, Fig. II. Oonsequentlythe clamp is not flattened, as is the case where the direction of movement is a diametrical or radial one.

I do not claim, broadly, acoupling in which an open'ring clamp is closed by means of a tapering screw; but

What I claim as my invention is-- 1. In combination with the shell A, having the projections c, the openring clamps B, and tapered devices 0, the opposing faces of the free ends of the said clamps and the projections being arranged in such position with reference to a radial line extending through the said tapered devices as to effect, upon the foreing in of the said tapered devices, the circumferential contraction of the said clamps, substantially as herein specified.

2. In combination with the shell A, having the projections c, the open'ring clamps B, and tapered screws 0, the opposing faces of the free ends of the said clamps and the projections being grooved and threaded, and arranged in such position with reference to'a radial line extending through the said tapered screws as to effect, upon the turning of the said screws, the circumferential contraction of the said clamps, substan tially as herein specified.

WILLIAM SUMTER BLACK.

Witnesses WM. T. HOWARD, MILLARD S. BLACK. 

